photo of a lens ball sitting on moss in a forest

Sustainability Science Team

Microsoft Corporate Environmental Sustainability

Building a more environmentally sustainable future

What we do

“We have a growing team of sustainability scientists working with researchers, businesses, governments, and non-profit organizations around the world to help Microsoft, its customers and partners, and the world to build a more environmentally sustainable future.”

Microsoft 2020 Environmental Sustainability Report​. A Year of Action 

The Sustainability Science Team, part of our Corporate Environmental Sustainability area, ensures that Microsoft’s sustainability strategy and programs are informed by the best available science by working with researchers inside and outside Microsoft.  

We bring deep subject matter and technology expertise to our operations and strategic customer conversations. We work with partners and customers at the intersection of natural, social sciences and digital technology to understand complex sustainability challenges and find science-based solutions. 

We contribute our expertise to rapidly advance the best available science in the regions in which we operate.

Environmental Sustainability | Microsoft CSR

Current focus areas:

  • Net Zero. Microsoft has committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030 and the world needs to achieve net-zero by 2050 to avoid dangerous climate change.  We work to ensure that the best available science and technology enables the reduction and removal of carbon emissions.
  • Climate risk. Existing constraints in current climate risk assessments make them unsuitable to effectively evaluate and manage the true exposure of society and businesses to climate-related risks. In partnership with leading international research teams, we work to improve and expand the use of science and technology to enable the climate risk management required.

Who we are

Amy Luers smiling for the camera

Dr. Amy Luers

Global Director, Sustainability Science, Microsoft | Citations (opens in new tab)

Amy has over two decades of experience working on climate and sustainability. Her areas of expertise cover climate, ecosystems and water.

Prior to joining Microsoft, she served as executive director of Future Earth, assistant director for climate resilience and information at the White House in the Obama administration, director of climate at the Skoll Global Threats Fund, and senior environment manager at Google. Amy serves on the foresight committee of the Veolia Institute, and on the boards of several organizations including the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative and the Global Council for Science and the Environment. She is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations and is a member of National Academies Committees.

portrait of Trevor Dhu

Dr. Trevor Dhu

Asia Lead, Sustainability Science, Microsoft | Citations (opens in new tab)

Trevor has over twenty years of experience connecting science and technology to environmental management problems. His areas of expertise cover Earth observations, natural hazards risks and open data.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Trevor led the establishment of Digital Earth Australia, a continental scale analytics platform that enabled Australia to use satellite data, environmental science and machine learning to improve the management of natural resources.

environmental sustainability - microscopic view of glass-like bubbles

We are part of the greater Environmental Sustainability Research effort at Microsoft Research

Learn more about our research >